Portable well drilling machine and telescoping tripod mast therefor



\ 2,847,098 NG MACHINE AND TELESCOPING Aug; 12, 1958 G. HEINISH PORTABLE WELL DRILLI TRIPOD MAST THEREFOR 4 SheetsSheet 1 Filed July 14, 1954 my m m N w R m M q I mlhgw! a all. v N i l |HwmmHM MHMMMWMMHHHMMWHMMHHHIHH ll l 1 1 I i l I I l l l l l I I l I .L"

ATTORNEYS Aug. 12, 1958 v G. HEINISH 2,847,098

PORTABLE WELL DRILLING MACHINE AND TELESCOPING TRIPOD MAST THEREFOR IN VEN TOR.

. 8 GEORGE HEl/V/SH @MMLQW ATTORNEYS Aug. 12,- 1958 G. HEINISH 2,847,093

PORTABLE WELL DRILLING MACHINE AND TELESCOPING TRIPOD MAST THEREFOR Filed July 14, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 I N V EN TOR. GEORGE HE I/V/SH rron/r x5 Aug. 12, 1958 7 s. HEINISH 2,347,093

PORTABLE WELL DRILLING MACHINE AND TELESCOPING TRIPQD MAST THEREFOR Filed July 14, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 I v k I IN V EN TOR. GEORGE HEM/15H (0W6, CQeMM ATTORNEYS United States Patent PORTABLE WELL DRILLING MACHINE AND TELESCOPING TRIPOD MAST THEREFOR George Heinish,.A kron, Ohio "Application July 14,1954, Serial No. 443,223

, [3 Claims. (Cl. 189-11 This invention relates to portable well drilling machines and telescoping tripod masts therefor, and is especially useful where it is desired to provide a portable well drilling machine capable of handling long'strings of tools, pipe and casing.

i The savings in drilling and moving costs which can be effected by using portable well drilling machines is widely recognizedby well drilling contractors, however, in deeper wells such as are common in the oil and gas industry where long strings of well casing or pipe must be placed in the wells, the mast of the portable well drilling machine is usually inadequate to do the work safely. To comply with; highway :regulations and to achieve portability the masts of portable well drilling machines are usually'made in two sections, the top section generally telescoping within the bottom section and then the entire assembly being lowered to a horizontal position on top of the machine for moving; When setting up to drill a well the mast is raised to aposition substantiallyvertical leaning slightly forward and then the upper section is extended to provide the necessa'ry working height for the drilling tools and lengths of pipe to be handled. Since the mast in its extended position is relatively weak it is customary to strengthen and support itby the use of braces and guy wires. However, evenwith bracing and guy wires the capacity of the regular. masts are often inadequate and additional shear legs or shear poles arerigged up to carry the main porice , Another object is to eliminate the separate laborious handling of the shear legs to save time. The new tripod mast is handled entirely by the machine power.

Another object is to transport the shear legs on top of the machine with the regular mast.

Still another object is to eliminate the machine mast braces which customarily are used to support it as a combination column and cantilever beam.

These and other objects will appear from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings which'illustrate one embodiment of the invention. 1

Of the drawings, r

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a drilling machine embodying the invention, the telescoped mast being shown in the transporting position;

Fig. 2 is a view of the base of the tripod masttpacked for transport, taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

s Fig. 3.is' a detail view of the lower portion of the principal leg of the mast, taken on line 33 of Fig. 1, other portions beingbroken away;

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic'view, partly in section, of the principal leg of the mast, taken substantially on line 44 of Fig. l, and showingthe mast-hoisting mechanism of the. drilling machine;

Fig. 5 is a detail view of the pivotal connection of the mast legs to each other, taken on line 55 of-Fig. 1, parts being broken away;

Fig; 6 is a side view of Fig. 5; i

Fig. 7 is a sectional view, taken on line 77 of Fig. 1 showing theclamping and leg supporting bracket;

. Fig. 8 isa detail view of the clamping and leg supporting bracket taken on line 8-8 of Fig. l;

Fig. 9 is an elevation of the erected tripod mast and its supports looking toward the rear of, the drilling machine, i. e'., from the left of Fig. 1;

Fig. 10 is a side view of the erected tripod mast, parts being broken away;

Fig. 11 is a plan view of the tion;

Fig. 12 is a diagram illustrating a typical five line casing tackle employed in the apparatus of the invention.

Referring to. the attached drawings, Figure 1, shows a side elevation ,of a portable well drill ready for moving on the road andcarrying a tripod mast on top of the machine. The sketch shows a percussion or cable mast base or foundatool type of machine but the tripod mast of the invening room around the well. 'Thecasing' tackle is reeved over sheaves mounted on top of. the shear legs with the running line being carried over the machine mast so as to guide the line to the hoisting drum.

, Shear poles orlegs are commonly transported separately from .the machine, rigged up on the ground and raised into position after the machine mast has been raised;

The present invention aims to overcome the foregoing and other difiiculties and to provide a combination portable drilling machine. and telescoping tripod mast having thecharacteristics of great load handling ability in drillingoperation, ease of setting up and taking down at the drilling. location, and portability and compactness.

. It is the primaryobjective of this invention to combine thelarge loadhandling capacity of a set of shear legs or shear poles with the fast set up and portability of a telescoping mast in a new and novel manner which Icall a telescoping tripod mast? and which is described in detail and shown in the attached specification and tion is also applicable to a rotary type of drill or to a I universal machine that uses both methods of drilling.

In Figure l, numeral 1 indicates the drilling machine as a whole, numeral 2.the frame structure of the drill, 3 the trailer .axle and .wheels, 4 the towing truck or tractor, 5 the. power unit, 6 the main transmission shaft, 7 the spudder crankshaft, 8 the spudder, 9 the tool hoisting dnim', 10 the bailing reel, 11 the casing reel, 12 the cathead shaft. .Power istransmitted to the various shafts and reels by suitable gear or chain drives from the main transmission shaft 6 which in turn is driven from the power unit 5 by means of a belt drive 13 as will be understood by those familiar with the art.

The tripod mast referred to as a whole as 14 is carried on top of the machine. It is supported at the drilling end on'a pivot 15 and at the power unit end by the cross member 16of the frame structure of the machine. The pivot 15 also serves as the turning point around which the mast assembly is raised to drilling position; As canbe seen the upper sections of mast 'are telescoped within the lower so as to shorten the overall length for moving; Themast designated as a whole by numeral '14 consists of three legs arranged as shown in Figures 1 and 2. The primary leg '17, having. lower section 17a slidably receiving telescopinglupper section 17b, is attached to the pivot 15 inline .withthe-longitudinal centerline of the machine and, at its upper end, carries the sheaves for reeving the working lines, such as casing line sheave 18 to carry line to-casing reel 11, crown sheave'19 to carry "drilling line torthe spudder 8 and tool hoisting drum 9, sand sheave 20 to carrythesand line to the bailing reel 10.

The other two legs 21 and 211 of the tripod'each have a lower section 21a and 211a, respectively, slidably and telescopically receiving upper section 21b and 211b. The legsi21 and 211 are carried on top of the main leg 17 and have the upper ends of their respective upper sections 1 7b, 21b and 211b attached together with suitable'pivots 22 while the lower ends of lower sections -17a,*21a and 21larare held in proper spaced relationship by bracket '23. More exact details of joint 22 and bracket 23 will be described with Figs. and 6. At this time I merely wish to showthegeneral construction. Each of the two legs 21 and 211;:are arranged to carry one or moreadditional casing line sheaves 24 for reeving up a multiple part hoisting tackle.

As previously described, all three of the mast legs are made in two sectionsthat telescope one within the other. As shown in Figure 7, these telescoping sections may each consist of four structural steel angle bars having the customary cross lacing or plates. In Fig. 7, by way of example only, the angle bars are shown connected with cross lacing, i. e., angulary secured braces secured to the outside of the lower leg section and to the inside of the upper leg section to allow.the corner angles to have-free sliding movementwith each other. The basic idea is not limited however to the details of the leg-construction which could just as well be one pipe say 8 diameter inside of a pipe or each leg could be made of two-sizes of structural steel channels with cross lacing. I have shown the legs in Figure 7' with four angles since, in the preferred form, the angles permit greater freedom of design and construction. As shown particularly in Fig. 7, the upper sections of the legs are enough smaller in outside dimension to pass freely inside the lower sections. For purposes of simplification the corner angles and cross lacing construction of the mast legs has been shown'only inFig. 7.

Of course, when the mast is to be raised and the upper sections extended, some means must'be provided not only to perform the operation of raising the mast butalso to lock the upper sections in extended relationship to the lower sections. My U. S. Patent No. 2,589,080 shows a preferred automatic locking means and power raising means that would function very well with the tripod mast of the present application. It is to be understood however that this tripod mast could be provided with nonautomatic'locking devices and raised by a hand winch and still obtain some of the primary benefits of the tripod, mast although it would be slower to set up.

.Figure 3 shows'that the lower end of leg 17 is provided with a box type-cross'sill 25 carrying at its outer ends built-in screw jack assemblies 26 and 261. Thelower end of leg 17 is built in this manner so that sill 25 establishes contact with the drilling machine frame 2 at properly formed ;side joints 26a to receive the sill when the mast is raised for drilling. This permits the proper positioning of themast, i. e., the proper forward lean and the two screw jacks 26 and 261 permit leveling the machine and plumbing themast transversely.

As shown in Figure 2, the other two legs 21 and 211 simply end in suitable bases 21x and 211x which are approximately thesize of the leg cross sections. Each of the leg bases 21x-and 211x are also provided with a built-in screw jack assembly 21y .and 211y. These screw jack assemblies engage sockets 40 or plates on the foundation sills which will be described later in connection with-setting up the tripod mast in its operating position.

As stated before the tripod mast of the invention, in its preferred construction, is to beprovided withsuitable means-for-raising the-mast-to-the operating-position utilizing the power unit of the drilling machine. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways including mechanical, hydraulic or electrical methods. For simplicity I describe a simple mechanical method. Referring to Figure 1 again, a small winch drum 27 can be located at any convenient position on the well drill and power driven from thepower unit 5 through any shaft o f the rnachine that is suitable. In this case it is .shown chain driven from the jackshaft of the main hoisting drum 9. It is to be understood that the winch drum 27 has its power controlled througha friction Clutch drive (-not shown) for hoisting and a friction brake (not shown) for lowering. A mast hoisting cable'28 is then reeved from the winch drum 27 to the drilling end of the machine and thence through the main leg 17 of the mast. The method of reeving the cable is shown diagrammatically in Figure 4. A number of small sheaves-29, 29a, 29b, etc., are used to guide the hoisting cable. Two of the sheaves 29 and 29a are at the lower end of the upper section'17b. of mast leg 17, one 29b is at the upper end of the lower section 17a of mast leg 17 on one side, three 29c, 29d and 292 are mounted in the mast base sill'25, four,29f, 29g, 29h, and 29i are mounted at the bottom of the drilling machine frame and two 29 and 29k are mounted also at the drilling-end of the frame at right angles to sheavesg29f, 29g, 29h and 29i. The hoisting cable-28 is anchored at the upper end-of the-lower section 17a at point A, thence it passes in turn'to'29a, 29,-29b, 29d,'29h, 29a, 29i,'29k, 29 ,;29g, 29c and 29b, and thence to winch drum 27 where the cable end is anchored. The arrangement-is such that the cable passes back and forth 'from thepoints outlined in-the space between the inner and outer sections 17a and-17b of-mast legl'l. 'From the three sheaves 29c, 29d and 2% in the mast base sill25 the cable is thus reeved to form a 5 part tackle with the sheaves-29f, 29g,29h-and 29i on the drilling machine frame 2, the two sheaves-29k and-29 being positioned so .as to carry the cable transversely from'one side to alignment on the other side.

This mast hoisting arrangement is used to raise the tripod mast in two steps using the drilling: machine power. The first step is to elevate the three telescoped legs 17, 21'and'211 as a unit from the horizontal-transporting position to a substantially vertical position. The second step is to extend the three telescoped legs to their full height.

The first step requires-that the two mast sections 17a and 17b of main leg 17 be locked together, for example by pin means 50, in their telescoped position. -This prevents shortening the reaches of the hoisting cable within the mast between 'point A and sheaves 29 and 29a, while at the-same time the five reaches of cable between sheaves 29c,'29d, 2% on the mast sill 25 and the sheaves 29f, 29g,'29h and 291' on'the frame 2 are shortened merely by taking in cable on the winch drum 27. This causes the entire mast assembly to tilt from a horizontal to a vertical position around pivot 15. Pivot 15- is so positioned inrelation to the center of mass of the telescoped mast that the mast top just overbalances towards the well W moving-sill 25 of mast leg '17 into firm but not banging engagement with side points 7260 of the frame 2.

The second step is accomplished simply by unlocking, i. e., withdrawing the pin means 50 holding together the two sections 17a and 17b of the mast leg- 17 so that the upper section can slidably move within the lower when continued taking in of thecable with winch drum 27 will shorten the reaches of cable within the mast between point A and sheaves 29 and 29a and thereby extend the mast.

It is obvious that some means must be provided to solidly connect the respective mast upper sections-17b, 21b and 211b to the-respective mast lower sections 172:, 21a and 211a when the mast is in extended operating position as otherwise the -size of the load that could be imposed 'on themast would be limited to the strength of the hoisting'cable 28, also as just outlined it is necessary to lock the mast sections 17a and 17b together in telescoped position for transporting and for the first step of elevating the mast, A simple effective manner of doing this is to provide bolted joints between the sections with thebolts taking the shear load. However, the use of bolted joints-necessitates having .a man climb the mast leg and is, not easy or fast. A much better methodis to use anaut omatic positioning lock, as mentioned earlier, on the main leg 17 and either bolted or shear pin joints on the other two legs 21 and 211. See my Patent No. 2,589,080 for details of the type of automatic lock.

It is not'neccssary to provide any special means for extending'or telescoping the two legs 21 and 211 since this is accomplished by attaching the upper sections 21a and 211d of these two legs to the main leg at pivot joints 22 and clamping the lower sections 21b and 211b fastat bracket23. {The only essential feature of the three legs for proper telescoping orextesion is that they shall be properly held and spaced parallel to each other.

Figure 5 shows a larger scale sketch of the construction of pivot joints 22. The upper end of the upper section 17b ofthe main, leg ,17 is provided with two brackets 30 spaced transversely thereof. These brackets 30 are made with two extending pivot shafts 31 which receive the joint trunnion members 32. The trunnion members-are retained by nuts 33." Each trunnion memher is attached by, its trunnions to the trunnion bearing brackets 34 built integralwith the upper ends of upper sections 2lb -and 21112 of legs 21 and'211. This double pivot joint on the upper ends of the legs 21 and 211 permit these legs to be freely moved from positions parallel to the main leg 17 to any angular positions desired as indicated by the arrows.

In Figure 7 is shown the bracket 23 which is used to position and support the lower sections 21a and 211a of the legs 21 and 211 parallel to the lower section 17a of leg 17 and to which the legs are held fast, as for example by means of clamp plate 35 and bolts 36. When rigging up the machine to drill a well, it is customary to provide a suitable foundation and working platform at the wellsite. Dependent upon the work to be done this foundation is more or less elaborateand in the case of deeper, more expensive drilling projects may even be a permanent concrete and steel foundation. The foundation plan in Figure 11 is typical of the kind necessary for the average work within the capacity of portable well drills. A description of laying the foundation follows: Two 10" or 12" square timbers 37 about 16-0 long are leveled and graded in at the well site. These timbers are placed 6'-0 and 10'-0 from the well to the respective ends of the timbers with the longer ends extending back under the frame 2 of the drilling machine. The timbers 37 are also spaced transversely from the well so as to provide working clearance and bring them under the machine frame 2 for proper support of the frame. Two more timbers 38 of the same size but about 12'0 longare spaced parallel to timbers 37 with their outer ends in line, after setting of the mast support sills, as hereinafter described, these four timbers become the foundation fora planked over platform 12-0 square for the drillers to work on. Timbers 37 and 38 are sometimesv called mud sills.

After the frame 2 of the drilling machine has been set in place in the position indicated in Figure 11 relative to the working platform the following procedure outlines setting up the tripod mast.

(l) The mast is elevated from the horizontal position to the vertical position as previously described.

(2) The main mast leg sill 39 is placed on the timbers 37 and 38 under the mast base sill 25 with the jack pad sockets 40 in line with the jacks 26-261, the

6 mast sill 25 is bolted or otherwise attached to the machine frame at the side points 26a. I e

(3) The jacks 26 -261 are now used to level the the frame 2 of the drilling machine and plumb the mast transversely; longitudinally it is of course positioned by the pivot 15 and frame'points 26a to lean forward so as to bring the top of the mast when extended in line with the well W as shown in elevation Figure 10.

(4) The main mast leg sections 17a and 17b are unlocked and the legs extended as previously described.

(5) The upper sections 17b, 21b, and 211b of the three legs are next either automatically locked or otherwise connected to the lower sections 17a, 21a and 211a as previously described.

(6) The base sill 41 for the legs 21 and 211 is placed upon the timbers or mudsills 37 and 38 in the manner shown in Figure 11. This base sill 41 is a steel structure made up of two longitudinal members 42 spaced apart to provide working clearance around the well and tied together at their ends by end members 43. The end members 43 are provided with two more jack pad sockets 401 to receive the ends of jacks 21y and 211y of the legs 21 and 211.

(7) The two legs 21 and 211 are freed at their lower ends from leg 17 by removing clamp plate 35 (Figures 7 and 8) and this will permit the two legs 21 and 211 to swing out into alignment with the well by pivoting on the trunnions 32, see Figures 5 and 6. In the longitudinal plane the legs will hang plumb of their weight.

(8) The legs 21 and 211. are next swung transversely so as to bring their lower ends into line with the base and sills 43 where the leg jacks 21y and 211y are fitted into their. sockets 401. Transverse swinging of the legs 21 and 211 is permitted by the trunnion 32 pivoting on shafts 31.

(9) Equalizing the four jack adjustments completes the work of setting up the tripod mast ready for stringing up lines to proceed with the drilling work.

Figures 9 and 10 show the tripod mast in the raised operating position.

Figure 12 shows a five line casing tackle reeved up on the tripod mast and machine casing reel as sketched. It is apparent that the two legs 21 and 211 in this set up act as shear poles or shear legs and carry approximately two-thirds of the load suspended on the hook of traveling block 52. Also it is apparent that the shear legs can carry a greater part of the load if two more sheaves 24 are mounted at the upper ends of the legs and a quadruple traveling block used instead of a double. Again it would be obvious to further strengthen the tripod mast for heavier work by the use of guy wires and/or braces between the three leg members.

When tearing down after completing the well the reverse procedure is followed in laying the mast back onto the machine. One operating advantage of the tripod mast is that the two shear legs are readily removed from the main leg by taking oif nuts 33 Fig. 6. The remaining leg then can be used in the usual manner for light work.

While one complete embodiment of the invention has been disclosed herein, it will be appreciated that modification of this particular embodiment of the invention may be resorted to without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A portable unitary well drilling machine including a wheeled vehicle frame, a telescoping tripod mast including a main leg and two secondary legs, each leg having an upper section and a lower section telescoping together, the upper ends of the upper sections of all legs being pivotally secured together with a universal joint, means secured to the main leg of the mast releasably securing together the lower sections of all legs, means pivotally securing the mast to the frame near the well end thereof with the bottom end of the mast extending out over, the well, said main leg of the mast having a transverse sill at its lower end, the ends ofthesill-engaging with opposite sides of the frame when the mast is raised to brace the frame from themast, a plurality of sheaves journalled on the sill, a plurality of sheaves journalled on the frame, a sheave journalled at the lower end of the upper section of the main leg of the mast, a sheave journalled near the upper end of the lowersection of the main leg of the mast, a power winch on the frame, a cable having one end secured to the winch, the cable extending in several reaches between the sheaves on the frame and the sheaves on the sill, then extending around the sheave near the upper end of the lower section of the main leg, then around the sheaveat-the lowervend of the upper section of the main leg, and with the end of the cable attaching to the lowersection of the main leg near the upper end, means forreleasably locking the sections of the main leg in telescoped position, jack screws on opposite ends of the sill to position the mast, and frame transversely, jack screws on the lower ends of the secondary legs to position the mastfore and aft, and atleast one sheave near the upper end of the upper section of each mast leg to receive the cable for loading the mast.

2. A portable well drilling machine including a frame, a telescoping tripod mast including a main leg and two secondary legs, each leg having an upper section and a lower section telescoping together, the upper ends of the upper sections of all legs being pivotally secured together, means releasably securing together the lower sections of all legs, means pivotally securing the lower section of the main leg to the frame, the main leg and-two secondmy legs riding in substantially horizontal travelling position on the frame, a transverse sill secured to the lower end of the lower section of the main leg, cable means tit secured only to themain legtor simultaneously. swinging the main leg andtwo secondary legs about the pivotal securing means on the frame and into substantially vertical positiomsaid cable means subsequently expanding the upper sections simultaneously outwardly with respect to thetlower-secti-on of each leg, jack screws-,onithe opposite ends of the sill to position the mast and frame trans- .versely, jack screws on the lower ends'of'thesecondary legs to position themast fore and aft.

3. A portable :well drilling machine including a frame, a telescoping tripod mast including a main leg and two secondary legs, each leg having an upper section and a lowersection telescoping together, the upper ends of the upper sections of all legs being pivotally secured together, means releasably securing together the lower ,sections of all legs, means pivotally securing the lower section of the main leg to the frame, the main leg and .two secondary legs riding in substantially horizontal travelling position on the frame, means secured only to the main leg for simultaneously swinging the main leg ,andtwosecondary legs aboutthe-pivotal securing meanson the frame and into substantially vertical position, said last-named means expanding the upper sections outwardly with respect to the lower section of each leg.

References Cited in'the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 701,975 Weaver June 10, 1902 1,399,092 Thorensen Dec. 6, 1921 2,541,970 Pospisil Feb. 13, 1951 2,589,080 Heinish 'Mar. 11, 1952 2,611,455 Woods Sept. 23, 1952 

